For years, the magazine Renovation offered the annual “Cost vs. Value” Report comfort for owners to invest heavily in renovation projects. The period of high recovery of the most popular rehabs – kitchens and bathrooms – to renovate the catalyst even some owners are encouraged. They felt sure that if they did a good job, they would return more of their money.

The values have recovered fell last year. Renovating a kitchen with improved materials, like stone countertops and a range of 36-inch commercial-grade, more than $ 108.408 in the average cost nationally last year, again only 71.2 percent, compared to 84.8 percent on comparable Rehabilitation $ 81,552 paid in recent years.

Does this mean that the owner may cease to be refurbished? Hardly, especially when they have a clear vision of how they want to search their homes and function – and if they can afford. But the declining numbers suggest greater caution:

• Do not improve. Take the value of your existing home, add in the cost of your improvements and ensure that the new amount does not exceed the value of comparable neighborhood homes.

• Do not be major changes, unless you stay put. Do not go overboard, unless you are going to take five to seven years of work and remuneration.

• Do not forget to check the pulse of your specific market. What buyers want varies by region and price. A buyer should not expect $ 500,000 home, the kitchen equipment for professional and granite, the homeowner of $ 2,000,000, said Michael Rankin, associated with Tufts, Taylor & Rankin Sotheby’s International Realty in Washington, DC

Despite the slump in some areas, a single family home in good condition, price is also aroused great interest, and sometimes multiple offers, “said Rankin. “Buyers do not want to do the job. They have busy lives, “he said.

Diane Saatchi, senior vice president of the Corcoran Group in East Hampton, New York, also had a strong spring off the market. “If you save elected to four months, you would never have believed it. But I think everyone is tired of waiting away from the bubble to burst. I think what you see is seven months People want to buy, “she said.

And designer Marc Vassallo, author of “The Barefoot Home” (Taunton Press, 2006), advises homeowners to think seriously about how their money, not just where. “They want to spend on things that will the most impact, “he said. In his own New Haven, Conn., home he gave his wife a cost plus terrace of their kitchen because of the place and $ 20,000 installed new windows for $ 1,000 at the end of the hall that leads to the kitchen. “It opens the whole house,” he said.

Here are some other ideas about where the money of the United States can best be expressed:

• Clean, clutterless kitchens. Bring the kitchen of a good yield. The “In” is a palette-style white, bright, white wood cabinets and granite countertops sweet looking or limestone, rather than polished black granite, “said Rankin. In its price range, uses warned against too many, including the bells and whistles. In the higher-priced niche Saatchi, owned more than wasting the most modern equipment, but also as a white, clean, modern kitchen and to invest to avoid “cute” behavior. Warns against equipment that is nobody knows how. Vassallo offers first-hand advice on his kitchen to be repeated. Instead of in the kitchen of his dreams, he says, he could not afford, he spent $ 15,000 for affordable IKEA cabinets, moldings, a new oak hardwood floors and new equipment.

• Well lit bathroom-style spa. The bathroom has a great double sink, good lighting, underfloor heating, bath or other large, if in the bedroom, large shower and a simple design, without much color or pattern, “said Rankin. For a higher price, owners should also include a shower and bathtub, said Saatchi. Although they look a pedestal sink, it offers little storage space.

• Finished basements. They came back in fashion, but what they should get pleasure depends on the region and price. Saatchi clients seek lower levels in the exercise, home theaters and gymnasiums.